It’s been a few years since the Honda Civic made its world premiere. Initially shown as a sedan, the swoopier hatchback eventually made its way to market months after. In Japan and Europe, it’s the only body style available for the popular compact sedan.
Meanwhile in the Philippines, the Civic hatchback hasn’t been sold here in decades. There’s still a strong clamoring for it, and it’s still on the wish list of a lot of local Honda enthusiasts.
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To further whet everyone’s appetite, Honda has previewed a new variant of the Civic hatch. Not only that, it’s a familiar name to most people in Southeast Asia. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the Honda Civic RS Hatchback.
At first glance, it looks much like the sedan we already have here. It has the same badge location, wheels, and ‘blacked-out’ treatment. However, we observed a different set of bumpers for the front and rear. That should give it more distinction over the standard hatch variants.
There are no interior photos of the Japanese-spec Civic RS hatchback just yet. However, we’re likely to see similarities between this and the sedan sold in ASEAN. If so, we can expect red highlights on the dash, door, and seats, along with a unique welcome animation on the digital instrument cluster. Other possible upgrades include suspension tweaks as it slots in between the ‘regular’ variants and the Type R.
But what caught our attention is Honda’s claim. The company has said that it will be offered with a six-speed manual. Will this be the modern day SiR people have been wishing for? Well, it will depend on what’s under the hood.
Granted, there’s a Civic Si sedan in North America, and it’s even available in orange. It packs a higher-output version of familiar 1.5-liter turbo, punching out 200hp and 260Nm of torque. If the RS won’t use it, then it’s likely it’ll stick to the standard version of the 1.5-liter turbo that makes 176hp and 240Nm of torque.
